11 months.

listen to the mustn'ts child.  listen to the don'ts.  

listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. 

listen to the never haves then listen close to me... 

anything can happen, child.

anything can be.

{shel silverstein}

parker.  we need to do something about that hair.  if you were a girl, i'd stick a little felted flower clip in it (oh wait, i did!  but it was really brief!) so fast it'd make your head spin.  but!  you're not a girl.  i can't bring myself to trim it yet, but... never say never.  so, 11 months, here we are.  one month away from your FIRST BIRTHDAY.  it's shocking, truly shocking.  i feel like mamas of one year olds are wise mamas who know all the tricks in the book, who never leave the house without the proper amount of diapers and wipes in the diaper bag, who predict naptimes perfectly.  then i realize, i almost am one of those mamas and yet i am none of those things and just started being your mom like the other day.  it's a head-scratcher.  a head-scratcher, indeed.

you are sweet, you laugh all the time, and you are starting to play independently so nicely.  you will sit on the floor and flip the pages (almost flipping each one by itself... a tricky feet for chubby little new hands like yours are) back and forth for a good twenty minutes and sometimes longer.  by yourself!  you don't need entertainment all the time, but you do like it when we're in the room with you while you do your thing.  you're also discovering that books are not food and i can sit and read to you.  your attention span doesn't always last the entire book but it sure can come close.  this is exciting as that'll be one of my favorite pasttimes with you.

you love when william and lindsey come home from school.  you love when anyone looks at you.  at a restaurant, at the grocery store.  you are desperate for someone to make eye contact with you.  then you'll smile at them and tuck your head into my chest like a little flirt.  it's adorable.

you're nearly perfect but can sometimes be a spaz come bedtime--lurching your body all about (if you didn't fall asleep nursing)... like you have restless leg syndrome but of your entire body.  you throw your head around, swing your arms and whack me in the face, scratch, kick.  i've considered a strait jacket but that feels wrong (but so right... do they come in your size?).

you love being held by mama.  i think you'd happily be held all day long by me (or dad).  at over 20 lbs. this isn't easy to do, but you still get a whole lot of it.  it's one of my favorite places for you to be--right there on my hip!

you are starting to like foods!  we've tried sweet potato, avocado, carrot, egg yolk, zucchini, greek yogurt, apple sauce and the only one that i'm pretty sure you did not like was the zucchini.  you didn't eat a ton of everything but you had some.  that's progress, my little man!  nursing's still your favorite though.

you're so loved, parker.  i mean it.  everybody loves you and i imagine that that is a real secure feeling for a little person like yourself.

love, mama

ps. next month.  12.  i get a little tight in the throat when i think about it.